Downtown Chinook, The Foundry, Mid October

     Annik's head pounded. She'd had an almost constant headache for the last two weeks now. Maybe it was time to go see a doctor. Not that she could afford that, her job didn't offer medical. Nor could she have afforded the co-pay even if it had offered medical coverage  And in order to get state help you had to actually exist in the records somewhere. Her forged ID's were good enough to get a job with, but they would never have withstood the kind of scrutiny that a government agency would put them through. Annik knew that she'd been born in the States but there was no official record of her existence anywhere. She'd been born at home according to her mother and had no reason to doubt the account.

    Damn her head hurt. Was she rocking an aneurysm or some such? She might of understood the chronic headache if she'd hit her damn head or drank a lot. But this sourceless headache was getting ridiculous. Maybe she had a brain tumor or some such. Most likely though? she just needed glasses. After all, that was one of the most common causes of headaches according to her internet searches at the library. Annik refused to consider for more than a moment any of the other common causes of headaches. Her wallet didn't stretch anywhere near far enough to pay for even the cheapest of diagnostic tests. Much less what would be needed to figure out why her head had hurt for so long.

    Added to the absolutely wonderful headache was the way her skin had been crawling of late whenever she's had to go out in during the day. Annik had always been sensitive to sunlight which is why she'd always been careful to stay covered up and use sun block even on rainy days. It didn't matter what season it was, she stayed covered up. lately however her sensitivity had been worse then it ever had been in the past. Her skin was prickling and itching like crazy. It felt like her skin was trying to crawl off of her body any time sunlight touched it. As well as feeling like like it was trying to burn from being to close to a heat source, rather like a burn from a fire.

    Long ago her mother had told her that she was allergic to the sun. Something else that had kept her separate from any other kids. Who wanted to play with a lobster that couldn't even go outside. Not that her mother had encouraged her to make friends with any of the other children that she met. Just one more way that she was so very different from anyone she had ever seen on T.V. or read about in a book. At least the people in book or on T.V didn't bully or pick on you for an allergy that meant you couldn't go out to play much.

    Annik had always thought that her allergy to sunlight was unfair. It wasn't like she had red hair, fair skin or was an albino. There was nothing about her coloring that would indicate that she burned easy, quite the opposite in fact. Nope, her skin was a nice golden brown as if she had a wonderful tan. And her hair was a nice normal light brown that most would call mousy, Annik liked it though.

     Over the last few weeks her sensitivity to sunlight had gotten so much worse. Thank god it was winter, if it had been summer she would of had a hard time getting to work on time. Between her skin burning and the sun blinding her. At this rate she was going to have a hard time holding down a job. That was of course assuming she wasn't rocking some weird disease or something. Annik  felt so bad these days that she was starting to wonder if she was even going to make it to the summer. If she didn't at least she wouldn't have to worry about her job.

    As it was her headache was bad enough to make Annik wonder if she was going to be able to work today at all. Hurling on a customer was not the best way to keep any job but most especially one as a waitress. OMG, it's like there's a tiny man in my head with a jack hammer Annik thought to herself as she rode the bus to work. The pounder in her skull was so not helped by the stench of the men who had been riding the bus with her for the last couple of weeks. Thank god they didn't follow her into the Foundry. Annik doubted if she could of served them without throwing up all over them.

    At first Annik had thought that she was being followed because the stink from those men on the bus had reminded her of some of the tales her mother had told her. But since it was never the same men twice and they'd always been on the bus before her, she'd decided she was imagining things. Damn, if that stench was from where they worked than she really felt sorry for them. It would so suck to be around that vile aroma for any length of time.

    So after about a week of it she'd decided that her imagination must be getting the better of her. The stories that she'd heard from her mother had been very vivid. Vivid enough that they were coloring her real life with nightmare bad guys from them. Besides, even if her mother had been on the run from someone they didn't know Annik from Eve. There was no reason for her to panic just because her mom was afraid.

     When she'd first caught the scent she'd, very briefly, contemplated moving to another town or even to Canada. After all that was what her mother had told her to do.But she'd wanted to stay here in Chinook. Her mother's grave was here and so were Annik's last memories of her. Her mother had never moved them out of the country. Saying that getting fake ID's for another country was not only difficult but prohibitively expensive. Annik however had always suspected that there was something more to the story. She'd never asked though, respecting the line her mother had drawn. Figuring that there would always be time in the future to press for more info. She'd so been wrong about the that though hadn't she. Annik and her mother had run out of time for any more conversations.

   Nonetheless the stench of those men triggered a memory every time she smelled it. The memory of a story her mother had told her many times as she was growing up. Told so often that Annik had assumed that it was one of her mothers favorites. The story hadn't been a Disney remake of a Grimm fairy tale. No, it had been the gruesome original. Actually it had made the Brothers Grimm seem tame. The thing that had always caught her memory was how her mother had described the scent of the bad guys in the story. She always said it was a sickly sweet scent mixed with cheap perfume. Those stories were why she'd almost bolted when she first smelled it. But then Annik had decided that her mothers stories had bled over from her subconscious to her conscious mind making her paranoid. Making Annik as afraid as her mother had been. Not a mindset that she felt like rocking at any time. But definitely wasn't up to dealing with right now.

    It had taken all of Annik's strength to make herself go to work today. She had almost called out but really needed the money. Even with picking up every extra shift that she could, the loss of her mother's income meant that there was even more of a struggle to get the bills paid than there used to be. Everything was on her now. There was no one to help her to buy food or cover bills. And damn didn't that make her feel worse about absolutely everything in her life. So the fact that she couldn't afford to miss even an hour of work was the cherry on top of the shit sundae her life had become. Resolutely pushing any thoughts of her mother away Annik signaled for her stop, left the bus and walked to work. If she was going to feel like garbage she might as well get paid for it.

    It had only taken fifteen minutes after clocking in for Annik's day to go from bad to worse. A customer that probably should of been cut off three drinks earlier, had been less then pleased when she'd told him no, he couldn't have another vodka and tonic but that the coffee was free. In fact he'd gotten downright abusive and it had gone down hill from there. The hand that had grabbed her arm had been far stronger and more focused than she'd expected, considering his level of intoxication. He'd started screaming in her face about how dare she refuse to serve him. His money was as good as anyone else. Didn't she know who he was? Not only did Annik not know who he was, but she didn't even remotely care.

    Annik had been shocked for a moment, her mind not wanting to believe that this was happening. Then she got angry, very very angry. The drunk groping her while he yelled was what had done it. There was no way she was going to put up with that. Not today, not any day. After all she was allowed to slap a face if they got handsy. At least as far as the boss was concerned and the state didn't care either way. At the exact moment that her hand connected with the drunk S.O.B.'s face there was a brief lull in the music. So the sound of her slap resounded through out the entire V.I.P. section like a gun shot. Suddenly everyone was looking at the two of them. He standing there with one hand on her arm the other on her breast. Her standing there having just slapped in the face. No one spoke or even seemed to breathe. The world seemed frozen in place like a horrible tableau, never to move again. Annik wanted to scream at them all, asking what they were all looking at. Why did they have to stare at her like that.

    Then the world started to move again. The bouncers converged on Annik and the grabby drunk and before you could say boo she was free. The bouncers were "escorting' the handsy screamer from the bar and recommending that he not come back until he could act better. Annik knew from previous experience that the bouncers would have zero issue with airmailing the guy right out of the building. They might even be nice and open the door first but only if they suspected that there were cops in the area. Annik doubted that she would see him any time soon, if at all. If the jerk had been escorted out of the building more than twice, he was going to be black-balled permanently. And at least for a while, maybe even the rest of the night, the rest of the customers in the V.I.P. section would be better behaved. And boy was she glad for that.

    The second hassle of the day happened just as her shift was ending. This time it was her boss not a customer that caused the drama. Her boss had been chasing her on and off again since she'd started working at the club. But Annik had no interest in the guy or what he was offering. It wasn't that he was an ugly or unappealing man. Nor did what he was offering her bother her. And that included the fact that some of the girls did more then serve drinks. There were private rooms for a reason after all and the bathrooms in the V.I.P. section were absolutely huge so the girls would have a safe place on-site to take their clients. Nor did the "working girls do any waitressing as a part of their job, officially or otherwise. But it was a way to make extra money. And only the girls that wanted to make extra money working privately as it were, did so. No one was ever forced no matter who the customer was or who the customer wanted.

    Annik just didn't find guys all that attractive was all. She wasn't interested in girls either. Annik had briefly wondered when she was a teenager if she swung that way. But there had been no attraction there, not physically at least. Annik felt no carnal desire for either sex. Recently Annik had decided that she was asexual. What else could she be. Twenty-five years old and never felt even the slightest attraction to anyone of either sex. When Annik had bee a teenager she had asked her mother about the whole attraction thing and her worries about it. Her mother had said that it was okay to not want anyone right now. That she would know who she liked when she was older. That had been almost a decade ago. Annik was definitely older, not that she looked it. But still there was no attraction to anyone.

        It wasn't that Annik didn't think that she was pretty. As a rule she didn't think about her looks at all. Annik was well aware that she looked more like a fourteen year old than someone that was less than a week away from her twenty-fifth birthday. She was also well aware that there were many people that were more turned on by her apparent youth then by her looks. Even if she'd been interested in sex Annik knew that the people that wanted her because she looked underage where not something she was interested in. In fact they thought turned her blood cold. Just eewww. No thank you. So the Foundry's manager wanting to go out with her wasn't welcome at all. Although in his defense he did know her real age.

    To Annik's thinking the only reason that the customers ever got handsy with her was that they thought she was underage and on the menu. Not because she was particularly good looking or sexy. Annik didn't dress sexy or move sexy. Heck she wouldn't have known sexy if it bit her in the arse. She did however know skeevy and had zero interest in it. The Foundry's manager trying to get her to do more than waitress just put him in the skeevy group. Or willing to cater to the skeeves which was actually worse to her thinking. Either way Annik was fairly sure that her managers only interest in her was that he hadn't managed to get her into his bed yet. Something that according to the gossip in the club he had managed to do with just about every other waitress in the place.

    Today had been such a wonderful day, Annik thought sarcastically to herself. Not sure how many more of them she'd be able to take. If she could have found a different job she would of but finding jobs that she could do that didn't start until dusk were thin on the ground. At least her day was almost done. Soon she'd be able to go home and collapse with a beer. Even though the Foundry gave a free drink to anyone that worked there after their shift was done, Annik never drank anywhere but at home. Not, as most people assumed, because she was under age. But because Annik didn't like to loose even a little of her control anywhere but at home. And after the day she'd had, Annik had every intention of getting more than a little tipsy. Even if it upset Wiket who didn't seem to like anyone drinking. Assuming of course that the cat wanted back into her place. Just because she had spent every night with her for the last two weeks didn't mean that she would do so tonight. After all Annik didn't own Wiket. As far as she could tell no one did.

    Annik was walking out of the employee entrance and starting to head down the alley towards the bus stop. When she felt hands on her for the second time tonight. Do I have a sign on my back that says grab me, she thought as she spun around to face what she assumed as the handsy customer. Only to be frozen in place by who was in front of her. It was one of the stinky men from the bus. Annik was almost more stunned by the smell of the man than the fact that he had grabbed her. She felt him shift his grip on her to one that used both hands and start to pull her towards the back of the dead end alley. There was a van parked in the place that her boss usually parked his Lexus.

    As she started to struggle Annik vaguely remembered hearing from the other girls that the boss was mad because had been parking in "His" spot for the last couple of weeks. In fact it had been parked there every night she had worked since she had first noticed the stinky men on the bus. She hadn't paid any attention to it but now wished that she had. Annik even remembered hearing her boss complain about it a couple of times as well. But since parking was first come first served there was little he could do about it. How stupid could she of gotten. She should of listened to her mother and gotten out of dodge when she could of.

    "Oh hell no!" Annik yelled 

    Throwing out her anchor Annik dropped her weight to the ground in the hopes of slowing the man down man. She knew that the bouncers kept a really good eye on this alley every since one of the customers tried to get to chummy with one of the girls after her shift. If she could slow the man down, maybe they would see what was happening and come to her defense. Normally Annik was all about her independence but this guy was way to strong for her to do more than slow a bit. Remembering her self defense classes from a million years ago, Annik dropped to the ground. Almost squatting but keeping her feet under her. Planning to spring away as soon as she felt his grip release enough for her to get free. If not, she was going to be dead weight and as difficult to carry as she could make herself. However the mans grip didn't release at all, in fact it got stronger and tighter.

    The next thing that Annik knew she was popped right off her feet and flying through the air. Annik felt her shoulder getting wrenched almost out of its socket. Then she was being spun in the air like ball on a tether with her arm as the rope. Oh, shit was all Annik thought as she slammed into the brick wall. This time the world spun around her rather then her spinning in it. Her vision checker boarded and the last thing she heard before she checked out was a deep bass male voice saying, "Wouldn't you rather dance with me?"